bezoar

Meaning

Noun

• A mass, usually of hair or undigested vegetable matter, found in a human or animal's intestines, similar to a hairball.
• An enterolith.

Origin

• From French bézoard, based on Arabic بَازَهْر, from Middle Persian pʾtzhl ("bezoar, antidote"). In ancient times, bezoars from animals were ground up and ingested as remedies for various maladies and as antidotes to poisons.